Bach Cello Suites Vol. 1

Joachim Eijlander

Bach Cello Suites Vol.1

“For me, this was a project which emerged from my deepest wish to record the Bach cello suites, and when the chance arose I grabbed it with both hands. A few days later I thought, ‘what on earth have I started’, but in the end this is the reason why I started playing the cello. I have played this music since I was ten years old and it has always been a dream to perform and record it.

The music is very strong in itself, and the individual voices form a very solid unity. You find yourself in this world and you are absorbed by it. That’s the power of this music.

Particularly in recent years I see more and more dimensions in Bach’s music that touch my soul, and for that reason I can still say that this really is the best music ever written for my instrument.”

About Joachim

Versatile musician and cellist Joachim received his training in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Berlin. As a dedicated chamber musician he has performed alongside ensembles and musicians including the Borodin quartet, the Bennewitz quartet, Lisa Larsson, Giles Apap, Charles-André Linale, Ferdinand Erblich, Stefan Metz, Zuill Bailey, Nino Gvetadze, Paolo Giacometti, Inon Barnatan and Karl Leister. Joachim is co-founder of the international Rubens Quartet. Together with the Rubens Quartet he took the full-time course at the Nederlandse Strijkkwartet Academie (Dutch String Quartet Academy). His teachers have included members of the Amadeus Quartet, the Hagen Quartet, Stefan Metz, Elias Arizcuren, Paul Katz and Jan Hollinger. The Rubens Quartet has won awards at international competitions in Austria and the Czech Republic, and won various national and international prizes, including the Dutch Arts Prize and the Schubert Prize in Graz.

Joachim was a regular guest in the international music festivals of Sitka (Alaska), Prussia Cove (UK), Schleswig Holstein (DE), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (DE) and Luberon (FR). Joachim has also worked together with composers Henri Dutilleux, György Kurtag, Sofia Gubaidulina, Louis Andriessen and Joey Roukens.

Besides visiting lectureships with various Dutch conservatoires Joachim has taught as a guest teacher at Indiana University, Texas University, Kansas University, Milwaukee Conservatoire, Oklahoma University, the Ljubljana Conservatoire in Slovenia, the Dutch String Quartet Academy, and international chamber music festivals.

Joachim plays on a cello by Gaetano Chiocchi (Padua 1870) with a bow by Nikolaus Kittel (St. Petersburg 1860), made available to him with great thanks by the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds (National Music Instrument Fund).